Google offers free website, hosting for 500,000 Indian SMEs
www.indiagetonline.in
November2, 2011: Google India has launched an initiative to help small medium businesses in India get online with a free website, personalized domain and hosting. It is called ‘India Get Your Business Online, and offers a quick, easy and free tool to set up and host a website. Working with web hosting provider HostGator, Google’s goal is to help 500,000 small medium businesses in India to get online in next three years.
Small business owners in India can logon to www.indiagetonline.in and use the tool to get a get a free, easy-to-build website and web hosting for one year powered by HostGator. Businesses also get a customized domain .in name and free tools, training and resources tosucceed online. HostGator willalso offer free support in creating, hosting and managing the website for a period of one year without any cost through its toll free call centers1800-266-3000.
While India is home to an estimated 8 million small and medium businesses, only about 400,000 have a website. The initiative is designed to bridge the information gap that exists online due to the lack of presence of local Indian businesses on the Internet. Businesses often believe that getting online is too complex, costly and time-consuming; this perception prevents many SMBs from taking the first step towards building an online presence.
India get your business online program is also supported by the Federation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), popularly known as FISME, a network of 730 MSME associations. FISME, will work with Google India to help SMBs get online through direct customer outreach and events.
